For the third consecutive year, participants in Triskeles Inc.’s Food For Thought summer program for teens contributed their own money and solicited donations from staff and board members to raise funds for local charities.

The result was $1,400 raised. The donations were awarded Dec. 13 and 14.

Most of the 40 teens in the program donated funds from the stipends they earned for participating in the summer program along with the solicited funds. The youth then discussed and decided as a group the charities to which they donated the funds.

“We want to show these young people how philanthropy works, how one’s giving follows one’s values,” said Mark Birdsall, Triskeles’ director of youth programs.

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This year’s recipients were The Clinic in Phoenixville, Main Line Animal Rescue, the Chester County SPCA and Start Up Live, a non-profit whose leader visited the program as part of the philanthropy project to make a presentation and request funding.

“It’s a chance to experience philanthropy from the giving side,” Birdsall said. “These under-served teens have been the recipients of philanthropy but now get to give.”

Birdsall said the students learn to examine and respect their own values and experience the satisfaction of helping others.

The non-profit, founded in 2002, is headquartered at 707 Eagleview Blvd., Exton.